It's all about the yellow socks

January 5, 2016January 19, 2016

2015 Resume. Bad Start But Warmed Up Nicely

After the disastrous bone snapping start to 2015 followed by 3 months of muscle wastage, I feared the worst, but the year picked up nicely with some great adventures. The body recovered slowly as long as the speed was restrained, it the first year in the last twenty I haven’t “pinned a number on it” TCR not counting. The adventure to Greece really opened my eyes to wanting more.

The European Heatmap for 2015 rides looks good. 12 countries ridden in, time to tick a few more off in 16.The UK Heatmap for 2015 only shows the big rides, room to get back up North in 2016

Veloviewer are a great addition to playing with Strava data and they produced these cool end of year graphics

Days ridden, Feb and March all very light turbo spins for mobility only

14,000 miles with 3 months on crutches is nuts really, and as the days ridden shows there’s been a bit of a John North (famous for running every day for 7 years) streak going on towards the end of the year. 90 days and counting into 2016.

One of the fun consequences of doing a shedload of summer miles was that it coincided with a competition run by Eurosport. I was very fortunate to be chosen to join Juan Antonio Flecha at the 2016 Paris Roubaix in April, Flights and Hotels included, what a result for having fun riding your bike.

Don’t ask me what a Vime was, apparently I have plenty of them 😉

So for 2016 new challenges await; having a helping hand in the reawakening of the Year Century Challenge (YCC) I have joined in with an ambitious target of one hundred ride days of at least one hundred miles. Yes a Ton of Tons, or only two a week as I like to calmly think of it.

Along the way another trip in the direction of Turkey is on the cards, along with one to Spain. The entry for the inaugural Transatlantic way race in Ireland is in, that’s going to be both beautifull and tough. That should keep the legs busy for starters and help in the century collection.

A shift from work to part time allows me more scope for adventures, but doubly the cutting of funds that comes with that, brings challenges. A lot more bivy hobo cycling trips and a definite attempt will have to be made to do more miles per coffee and cake stop. At least almost every country has an Aldi.